Switching processors: what happens to chargebacks on old sales?

After switching processors, chargebacks on old sales still arrive through the old processor, for up to 540 days on some Visa claims. Keep the old account and inbox reachable, list every open dispute, and export your order and delivery records before you cancel anything.

Do chargebacks follow you to the new processor?

No, a dispute arrives through the processor that took the payment, whichever one you use today.

Visa gives the card issuer 120 calendar days for most disputes. For not-received claims (Visa reason code 13.1, a claim that goods or services never arrived), the limit is 540 days from the processing date. A sale made on 20 February can, for most disputes, produce one as late as 20 June.

Picture a merchant who moves on 1 March and cancels the old account on 15 March. Its migration plan covers the new account and leaves months of exposure unattended. Check the date of your last sale on the old processor and count forward 540 days.

How fast do you have to respond?

You usually have far less time than the network allows. Visa gives the acquirer, the bank that holds your merchant account, 30 calendar days from the dispute date, and processors pass less of that on to you.

• Adyen: 9 or 18 days for a Visa chargeback depending on region, 40 days for Mastercard, 14 days for Amex.
• Stripe: usually 7 to 21 days.
• Square: 7 days after the dispute email.

A closed account may send notices to a dormant address or a login you have given up. Miss a 9-day notice and the dispute is lost without ever being contested. The deadlines in the first days after a notice are set out in the chargeback deadline clock.

What happens to money on the old account?

It can stay tied up there. Stripe debits the disputed amount and the fee from your balance and holds the funds for the whole dispute, which it says typically runs 2 to 3 months.

Square holds disputed funds at once, and its balance can go negative. A merchant who has withdrawn everything can end up owing the processor. Ask each processor in writing, before cancelling, how it handles disputes on closed accounts, where notices will go and how a negative balance is collected. We have not read any processor's terms on closed accounts, so get the answer in writing.

What should you export before you cancel?

Export the records that decide disputes, because a new processor will have none of them for sales it never handled. Stripe also allows evidence to be submitted once and says it cannot be edited, so everything useful should be in hand before you file.

• The order, with date, amount and customer email.
• The IP address and device data captured at checkout.
• Delivery tracking with the full address.
• Customer correspondence.
• Logins or downloads for digital goods.

Finish the export before cancellation. We have not checked any processor's retention terms, so the safe assumption is that a closed account may not keep transaction detail available.

Open disputes need their own list. For each one, record the reason code, the amount, the processor's deadline and whether evidence has gone in. A dispute with evidence in is waiting for the issuer, whose decision Stripe says usually takes 60 to 75 days. A dispute without evidence must be answered from the old dashboard, by the old deadline.

Takeaway: what to do this week

1. Keep the old login and inbox alive. Hold both for at least 540 days, and forward the old processor's notifications to a shared inbox that more than one person reads.
2. Export before you cancel. Pull orders, checkout IP and device data, tracking, correspondence and digital access logs from the old platform and your sales system.
3. List every open dispute. Note the reason code, amount, deadline and evidence status, and answer the unsubmitted ones through the old processor.
4. Ask both processors in writing. Ask the old one how it handles disputes on a closed account, and ask the new one whether it takes over disputes on sales it did not process. Compare what each charges per dispute before you move.

Sources: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, edition 18 April 2026, Tables 11-29 and 11-92 and the 11.3 dispute cycle table; Adyen Docs, "Dispute timeframes"; Stripe Docs, "How disputes work" (including Dispute timing) and "Respond to disputes"; Square Support, "Manage payment disputes". All checked 24 October 2026.